Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

“Is the pain still occurring?”  Dr. Abbot asked.  I shook my head.  He’d given me some sort of injection when I’d told him about the sharp pains.  I was still feeling a little woozy.

“Not… not really.”  It was strange, no pain at all.  What had he given me?  It was like, this dark red colour.  He’d said something scientific but whatever it was, I was thankful.

“Alright.  So there was no bleeding?  Just pain?”

“Yeah.  It was almost… almost like something clawing inside of me.”  It was freaky.  But the doctor didn’t seem too worried so I shouldn’t have been, right?

“We’ll run an ultrasound just to check the baby’s fine.”  I nodded.

After Tristan had dropped me in his room, Thom had come in.  He said that as soon as he’d heard Tristan shouting for Abbot, he knew something was wrong with me.  I wondered how.  How did he instantly link me to Dr. Abbot?  How come it couldn’t have been Tristan being hurt?

“So you got worked up over nothing then, huh, Mars?”  Thom smiled.  Him and his brother were so alike.  The same flirtatious smile, the same raven black hair... the same physique.  Even me and Kaya, who were twins, weren’t this alike.  It was weird.

“On the contrary, Thom, it’s a good thing she was worried.”  Dr. Abbot said, which made me frightened.  “If she wasn’t worried and didn’t come in, something could have happened to her or the baby.  But everything seems to be looking good.”

“So what was it then?”  I asked.  Dr. Abbot looked surprised for a moment, as if I wasn’t going to ask.

“Braxton Hicks contractions.”  He said, slowly.

“What?”  What the Hell were they?  Some sort of… pained kicking?

“It’s like a fake labour, getting you ready for the real one.  It should only be mild discomfort, nothing like the real deal.”

“Mild?”  I laughed, without humour.  “Mild?  Are you kidding me?  I felt like I was being stabbed and ripped from the inside out.  That’s not mild, that’s… that’s extreme discomfort.”

“I’m sure it’s different for every soon-to-be-mother.”  He smiled.  Something wasn’t right – it was almost as if he was covering for something.  It was that gut feeling.  I could’ve been wrong.  I probably was.  Paranoia.

“Sure.”  I smiled back.  I had a high pain tolerance, so surely it wouldn’t have been so bad?

“We’re going to keep you overnight.  You can stay in Thom’s room, he won’t mind.  But this is as a safety precaution – everything looks perfectly fine but it’s just in case anything goes wrong or there’s more pain.”

“Okay.  Thank you.”  I nodded.  “Alright, Thom, let’s go to your room.”

“Why my room?”

“Because I want to.  Look, can we go?  I’m tired and I just want to sleep.”  That wasn’t a lie.  I’d be happy enough to sleep on the medical room’s floor.  I was just exhausted and the drug was so not helping.  It was almost as if I’d smoked too much weed; like when I first started.  I’d take too much and pass out on the sofa.  Whitied once (and that was a ‘never again’ experience).

“Fine.  Why not with Tristan?  You came with him and you guys have a ‘thing’.”  He argued.

“Because… because I’d rather stay with you.”  Tristan hadn’t come in, at all.  When I’d told the doctor what was wrong, why I’d come here, he’d moved me to his usual room.  Thom had come, but Tristan hadn’t.  Left without a word.  I actually felt a little hurt by his actions – he’d seen me at my worst and he’d seemed to have disappeared.